Does anyone have a really easy potato bake recipe? My cousin gave me one that requires you to pour cream over the potatoes before you bake them, but a) that seems too fattening and b) I don't have any cream nor can I get any at this late stage. What can I use instead?

The unfortunate truth of the matter is that fat carries flavor, and the recipe is likely to taste pretty flat if you substitute, say, skim milk for the cream.

Given the constraints, I'd make a medium white sauce with whatever milk you have available, and butter or margarine, dilute it 50-50 with a good canned low-sodium chicken broth, and use that in place of the cream. Consider boosting whatever aromatics there are in teh recipe (celery, carrot, onion, garlic, seasonings). If you've got some stray mushrooms around, add those, too.

Given the constraints, I'd make a medium white sauce with whatever milk you have available, and butter or margarine, dilute it 50-50 with a good canned low-sodium chicken broth, and use that in place of the cream. Consider boosting whatever aromatics there are in teh recipe (celery, carrot, onion, garlic, seasonings). If you've got some stray mushrooms around, add those, too.

Thanks for the ideas! I actually do have mushrooms! I think I can actually do this now.

See... I don't cook. I make eggs and things you can fry in a pan, like hamburger patties, fish, etc. And pasta. I've never tried potato bake before but I wanted to make something a bit different, since it's only my mother and myself for Christmas.

Ah, now, you see? You can cook. You just haven't found out that you can cook yet.

And the sauce you made is halfway between a bechamel (white sauce) and a veloute (a white sauce made with stock instead of milk). So now you know two of the "mother sauces" of classic French cooking. Take a veloute and lemon juice and shallots (or onions), and you've got Sauce Bercy. Shallots and butter: Sauce Bonnefoy. Just butter: Sauce Allemande. Chives and tarragon: Sauce Ravigote.

Panfry some top round or some sirloin or a chicken breast (it's no harder than a hamburger) and drizzle a little (Tbsp?) of the sauce over the top, add some steamed green beans with a little lemon juice and tiny pinch of nutmeg and a dab of butter, some fresh sliced tomatoes and some decent crusty bread, and you've got a fairly respectable meal that looks like a whole lot more than the 20 minutes you spent on it. Go really wild and pan-toast some sliced almonds for a couple of minutes before you start on the meat, and put them on the chicken breast or the green beans just before serving for even fancier. Core a good apple like a Braeburn and nuke it in the microwave with a Tbsp of water, a half-teaspoon of butter, and a dusting of cinnamon, and call it dessert. $25 restaurant meal for maybe $4-5 at home, and it's probably healthier food than you'd get in a restaurant or out of the freezer case because you control the fats and salt and sugar.

If you're interested in exploring some other avenues of cooking, there are a lot of good cookbooks out there, and tv programs, too. One that I like a lot because it tends to explain the *why* is America's Test Kitchen, and the recipes in their "Family Cookbook" are pretty reliable and thoroughly explained. Alton Brown is another possibility for entry level cooking that's pretty non-threatening and looks like a whole lot more trouble than it is.

ZipTheWonder

There is an easy, easy potato recipe in last month's Fine Cooking. I think I can reproduce it. My family liked this a lot, and I would serve this dish for breakfast as well as dinner.

Boil red potatoes. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil After the potatoes are cooked and while they are still warm, 'flatten' them with the palm of your hand. Your goal is to 'break' the peel and create a small 'pancake' about 1/4" thick. Don't compact them. Spread the potatoes on the covered cookie sheet, brush each with olive oil, then season with coarse-ground salt and pepper. Flip them over and add more oil, salt and pepper. Bake them at about 425 for about 40 minutes or so, turning halfway through. You want crispy but not hard, so adjust accordingly. Much easier than french fries or hash browns and just as tasty.

There is an easy, easy potato recipe in last month's Fine Cooking. I think I can reproduce it.

Thanks! In the end I made up my own recipe from various ones I found on the Net. Instead of cream (my aunt's idea) or chicken stock (my cousin), I just made mushroom packet soup and used that. And it came out SO great!! I had thirds, and I usually hate my own cooking. But I really want to try your recipe too!!

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Bake them at about 425 for about 40 minutes or so,

My oven only goes up to 200! Gasp!! That's because it's in Celsius, of course. (And I do have a temperature converter.)

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees CelsiusPeel potatoes and cut into slices of slightly less than 1cmPeel onion and diceMake 2 packets mushroom soup according to instructions on packetGrease Pyrex/casserole dish with olive oilMake 1 layer of potato, add diced onionSalt and Aromat lightlyPour soup to coat layerMake next layer of potato & onionSalt & AromatPour soup to coat layerMake last layer, salt & AromatPour soup to coat layerMake last packet of soup and drench all layersCover with foil (shiny side down)Bake for about 1 and 1/4 hours(Check every so often until potatoes are tender)Remove foil and bake for another 5 - 10 minutesRemove from oven and serve